Field of Invention
The proposed method for production of hydrocarbon fuels uses carbon dioxide and water available as decomposition products of combustion, widely occurring in the atmosphere. This invention relates to production of cost-effective hydrocarbons from waste products and may be competitive with those refined from petroleum.
Description of Prior Art
Hydrocarbon fuels, including gasoline and diesel fuel, are used to power internal combustion engines in commerce, in the electric power industry and other industrial sectors. There are a wide variety of industrial methods for synthesis and production of these products, however nearly all rely on non-renewable petroleum resources. While alternate resources, such as production of ethanol from natural, renewable cellulosics and starchy foods, are becoming sustainable their costs are usually greater than the cost of crude oil. Production of hydrocarbon fuels from carbon dioxide, a waste gas that is free for the taking, could substantially reduce the cost.
Modern methods for industrial production of hydrocarbon fuels are based on the following processes:
1) Petroleum or crude oil is pumped from wells, delivered to refineries and processed into gasoline, jet fuels, diesel fuel, heating oil and other products. This is a well-known process but petroleum is becoming a limited resource that may have a residual life of 75 years.2) Natural gas and related oil products are released from wells and porous shale rock formations by fracturing the strata using pressurized fluids (fracking). An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,875,790, issued to Henry A. Baski, Nov. 4, 2014. Production of this fuel resource is practical above a well head price near $50 per barrel. This resource may have a residual life of 25 to 30 years.3) Deep ocean methane gas hydrate fields are presently being prospected, explored and developed as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 8,783,364, issued to Yojiro Ikegawa, Jul. 22, 2014 but may be of limited value in world commerce.4) Artificial hydrocarbon production using the Fischer-Tropsch process converting synthesis gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen) to condensed hydrocarbons (waxes) followed by catalytic cracking to liquid fuels is expensive but viable. This industrially viable process, as represented by U.S. Pat. No. 8,975,304, issued to Jacobus Lucas Visagie, Mar. 10, 2015, has been conducted in South Africa by Sasol for over fifty years. This process is also expensive but continues to be of commercial value in a captured market.5) Hydrocarbon fuels have been produced on a limited scale by extraction from oil bearing plants. For example, soybean oil has been used in production of biodiesel, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,000,244, issued to Oleg Kozyuk, Apr. 7, 2015. Some of these products can be used directly as diesel fuel but the cost of this fuel is relatively high.
The present application discloses use of essentially free carbon dioxide as a source of carbon hydrogenated by hydrogen atoms from water for production of fuel hydrocarbons using a fortified sulfuric acid medium. This catalytic conversion process is most efficient at elevated temperatures as described herein.
Methods for industrial production of hydrocarbon fuels from carbon dioxide and water, without use of hydrogen gas, coal or a sacrificial metal such as magnesium or iron, were not identified in the literature.